I haven't been on here in like a yeaaaar, haha. But I heard a sample of John's new single, "Grandview", and I just knew I had to get on and post about it. What does this song sound like to you? From what I heard, his voice is definitely a 1990s era John Mellencamp to me. If you listen to "Whenever We Wanted", and compare that album to "Grandview", you'll hear that his voice is eerily similar. I also found that the guitars and music sound like that of the early 90s. My best guess is that maybe "Grandview" was recorded in the same sessions as "Whenever We Wanted", but didn't make it on the album for whatever reason.Somebody else here mentioned that the album sounded more like a late 80s Mellencamp, like the "Lonesome Jubilee" sessions. Could be. But I heard more early 90s personally. Either way, we all know and can tell as Mellencamp fans that this was definitely his voice 100,000 cigarettes ago! Haha! This is simply a song from a previous record that he has just released now.As for the song, I do like it a LOT. I think it's catchy, and will make lots of fans happy who didn't like his newest records so much. It will be very interesting to hear him play this one live, as it's most likely a song from 20+ years ago. What do you guys think about it?

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I'm 19 years old and proud to be a hardcore John Mellencamp fan. - Brianna Hojnacki

I think ''Grandview'' is terrific, if it's an older song it's more likely from the 2007 ''Freedom's Road'' sessions, the Martina McBride thing came out of nowhere. I wonder what other surprises John's got in store for us on the new album, can't wait to hear it.

It's awesome live! John was in Nashville Friday night (Feb 24th) to record CMT Crossroads with Darius Rucker. This was the first song of John's that they performed together. It was a barn burner! What I loved the most is that the folks around us were clearly there for Darius and they were really impressed with this song. It is supposed to air on March 24th. I cannot wait to see what makes the show and what doesn't.

I am guessing this is from the 98 sessions for the self titled album. I say that because of Stan Lynch and Izzy Stradlin's inclusion on Grandview. They also played on the 98 record, so it is plausible they cut this while they were there during those sessions

In late 1993, John went in the studio to record 6-8 new songs for a box set that was going to be titled "Nothing Like We Planned." At the time David Grissom had just left the band and John and Kenny Aronoff weren't seeing eye-to-eye on Kenny not being available for sessions because he was constantly doing work outside the band. John brought in Izzy Stradlin to temporarily replace Grissom and Stan Lynch, who had just left Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, to temporarily replace Kenny. Among the songs recorded in these 1993 sessions were "Miss Missy" and "Grandview."

John eventually scrapped the "Nothing Like We Planned" idea and began making "Dance Naked" in early 1994, so the songs recorded in these sessions remained on the shelf. Andy York was hired in January 1994 to replace Grissom permanently, and John and Kenny patched things up and Kenny returned to work on "Dance Naked" as well.

"Miss Missy" was used five years later for the 1998 self-titled album, and we are just now getting "Grandview," although Martina McBride wasn't a part of the song back then. Her involvement came later.

As for "All Night Talk Radio," John mentioned that song in an interview back in 1996. It was cut for "Mr. Happy Go Lucky" - hence Kenny and Toby Myers' involvement - but it wasn't used for that album and stayed unreleased for 21 years. John revisited the song for "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies," and he added a few new elements to it, like Carlene's voice, although it's clearly still John's 1996 vocal on the song. It's a fantastic tune, so we're lucky it has finally been released. See my separate post for full band and songwriting credits for all the songs on "Sad Clowns & Hillbillies."

Grandview is the album's only real rocker and features ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin and former Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch. It's sung from the perspective a working-class middle-aged man whose biggest dream is outfitting himself with a trailer and getting out of town

I wonder how many songs were recorded with Stan Lynch and Izzy Stradlin?

Still waiting on the definitive Mellencamp book to probs such questions. As an aside, Kenny's book was great! Currently enjoying the John Mellencamp: American Troubadour book, but it's not so much a biography as a critical appraisal of JM's lyrics; I found it hard to believe that the book's index doesn't even have Larry Crane or Dave Grisdom listed at all (even Kenny receives only one mention).

I hope we get a rarities box set at some point; the Rural Route box set was, in the end, underwhelming for long time JM aficionados.